Saturday, September 5, 2015

August has been a lot of this and that. I am waiting to get the hull sprayed and since I took apart my stairs up to the boat it is rather awkward getting up and down. So in the mean time I am making good use of the time by working mostly on the shop floor and painting and varnishing up on the boat.

I took the hull painting as far as I could. The hull is prepped and ready for spraying, the bulwarks have four coats and the transom 8 coats of varnish. A few more would not hurt if I have time. The boomkin is painted with three coats of white Brightside. I was very particular about the boomkin. Way back I spent quite some time trying to find a good piece of Douglas fir. I wanted a heavy piece with tight grain at 45 degrees so all sides would be edge grain. Where it lands on the deck was then glued onto 1" teak so it would not be fir sitting on the deck. It was coated with S1 penetrating epoxy and then two coats of primer and three coats of top coat. I epoxy coated all the bolt holes before bedding on the boomkin/anchor roller and to the deck. The holes in the deck got countersunk so there would be a "donut" of goop around the hole. A general practice I have done with every hole in the deck.

Removed all the portlights after marking out the length of the bolts. Also filed a bevel in the portlight opening so I can put a good bead of goop around the spigot before the trim ring goes on. Now getting coats of varnish on the cabin. It's a big cabin and coaming so it takes time to go around it. The varnish and painting on the scuttle is almost done. So trying to juggle painting and varnishing with making dust.

I have had to abandon the Epifanes varnish I have always used and like. I tried every way I could think of but it seemed to skin over as soon as I opened a can but the final straw was I could source the Interlux Schooner varnish for half the price of the Epifanes. So Interlux it is for now. However, I can tell by the noxious smell that the interlux is not natural and it is thinner than the Epifanes.

Once the last coat was on the bulwark and sheer strake I was able to finally install the 3/4" brass rubbing strip on the rub rail. The channel for the chainplates is proud so I had to bend the rubbing strip there. I was lucky as my friend is a high school metal work teacher and I went with him so I could use his oxy-acetylene torch to heat up the brass and bend it around a form I made. I should have tacked some sheet metal over the form as the radius of the form got a little bigger each time I bend the hot brass over it and it started to burn it's way into the wood. It was little enough that it really did not matter. Trying to bend it cold would result in the brass work hardening, becoming brittle and probably cracking.

Milled up a big pile of hull ceiling and bulkhead staving. Also made the dovetailed drawers. I decided I had to dovetail them as it would be disappointing to open them and see a drawer screwed together or made of plywood. I got some really beautiful Western White Pine. Totally clear tight vertical grain and wonderfully easy to dovetail. Used 6mm mahogany ply for the drawer bottoms as it seemed to make sense for the application. The drawers also have raised finger holes and will have a simple turn button to retain them. I find wedges frustrating and am never confident in them to keep the drawer closed. I also wanted to avoid the unsightly gap at the top of the drawer you need when you have a wedge you need to lift the drawer to clear.

Making all the doors right now but forgot to take photos. Here is the settee backs though. Simple enough and just a bead detail to keep with the theme and a raised finger hole.

Also got the patterns made for the chainplates and backing plates for chainplates and windlass. Still need to do some more castings but getting the chainplates done was a big priority for being able to finish off the interior. The patterns are a split pattern and were rammed up vertically. So a little bit of taper to grind but over such a small area it is not much at all. Everdur Silicon bronze like all the rest of the hardware and nicely cast by Achinback Foundry just 20 minutes away in Langford. Sure am lucky to have a good foundry so close by. It is such a cool process where you send in some wood patterns and get bronze pieces back.

I was trying to figure out what the boot strip and painted bulwark and sheer strake would look like. The whole idea was to make the boat look lower, keep with the work boat heritage and cover up the 'glass work I had to do at the deck hull joint. I got out some old school pencil crayons and did some colouring...

I had to finish a cabinet in Cherry and Douglas fir. It was to be a filing cabinet so that dictated the size of the drawers and how many. I do not like mechanical drawer slides but in this case it made sense. The cabinet it frame and panel and the drawer fronts are thick douglas fir bandsawn veneer over Baltic Birch ply. The pulls are hand carved Paduk.